The much-travelled six-year-old Shanway arrived in Western Australia a couple of months ago after winning races in New Zealand, Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales and he celebrated his third appearance in WA with a smart victory in the Follow @skyracing.com.au on Twitter Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Trained and driven by 20-year-old Corey Peterson, Shanway, second favourite at $3.30, set the pace from barrier one and won by a neck from Nota Bene Denario, a $21 chance who finished strongly from eighth at the bell.
Shanway was headed by a half-length in the early stages by the $1.90 favourite Lord Rosco, who began with his usual brilliance from the No. 5 barrier but was unable to cross to the front.
A fast lead time of 35.5sec. had Peterson rather worried. “But once we then got through the first quarter in 31sec. and didn’t speed up in the second quarter (31.7sec.) I was pretty confident,” said Peterson.
Shanway then dashed over the final two 400m sections in 29sec. and 28.5sec. and won at a 1.57.7 rate over the 2130m journey.
Peterson said that owner Mick Harvey had sent Shanway to Perth to race because the Bettors Delight gelding was getting up in grades in Sydney.
“Shanway doesn’t want to try, and you can’t get him to go in his trackwork,” Peterson said. “But he performs well in his races. He is no superstar but is a nice handy horse who should be able to win another race or two.”
Shanway is the third foal out of Grace Way, and he now has had 58 starts for 12 wins, 14 placings and stakes of $98,380. He won twice from 17 New Zealand starts, five times from 14 Victorian starts, once from six starts in Queensland and three times from 17 appearances in New South Wales.
Shanway is a full-brother to Forgotten Highway (53 starts for 12 wins, 21 placings and $150,540) and is a half-brother to Three Ways, who earned $243,434 from 21 wins and 15 placings from 71 starts, with a highlight of his career his second placing behind Lazarus in the Victoria Derby in January 2016.
Another half-brother to Shanway is Make Way (56 starts for 14 wins, 14 placings and $150,495) and a full-brother Man Of Action has raced 19 times for two wins, seven placings and $33,080.
Shanway is the third pacer that Harvey has sent to Peterson, the others being Runaway Three and Cant Refuse.
Peterson has driven Runaway Three to six wins in WA, and he has prepared Cant Refuse for eight races for two wins and three placings.
“Runaway Three is now back in work after having a couple of weeks off to get over a few little problems,” Peterson said. “Cant Refuse has recovered from a damaged pastern and has just got the all clear to get back into work. It was just a minor fracture, not even a hairline.”
by Ken Casellas